Moving the needle

My manager tells me this every day: it's about moving the needle closer to your goals. You have a goal, and all you need to do is move the needle closer and closer until you get there. This system of thought simplifies the goal down to simple, repetitive actions that are manageable on a smaller time frame.

For example, selling 10 cars a month. If you want to move the needle on selling 10 cars a month, you break it down. How does a sale happen? You get a lead, then you book an appointment, you show them the car, and if they like the car and the numbers make sense, they move ahead. The salesperson can't really control if they buy the car or not. I know salespeople with high closing ratios; nearly 25% of customers who come in have a great experience and end up buying the vehicle.

Take two people: a great salesperson (Slick McQuick) and an average salesperson (Joe Shmoe). The average salesperson sells to 10-15% of customers. They both get around 100 leads in a month, meaning McQuick sells 25 cars a month, whereas Joe Shmoe sells 10-15 cars a month. What if Joe Shmoe generated 2 extra leads per day, amounting to 60 extra leads per month? Now Joe Shmoe is selling 24 cars.

To be a great salesperson, you have to put time into it, and it pays off in the long run. But even if you are an average salesperson, you can still achieve similar results. This applies to everything: once you have a system, as long as you move the needle, you are inching closer to the goal. The system allows you to use statistics to inch towards your goals.Thanks for reading. Remember to subscribe